Voices From My Heart
by snivygamer97
Summary: After 14 years of living in her sibling's shadows, Sora plans to go on a quest to find herself and to help two voices in her heart find their friends, with the help of Riku and Kairi.
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in the magical kingdom of Enchancia, there lived a young girl named Sofia. Sofia led a simple life, working at the village shoe shop with her mother, Miranda. One fateful day, they were summoned by King Roland II, who needed a new pair of royal slippers. Oh, I hope they're blue! No, red! We'll see. Sofia and her mother arrived at the castle. Sofia was very excited to meet the King. Miranda placed a slipper on the King's foot. It was a perfect fit. And so were they! King Roland and Miranda were soon married. And what seemed like a storybook ending… …was really a storybook beginning.

After everyone started getting used to being a family Sofia's parents had a surprise. They were going to have a baby. Sofia and James were happy, Amber was jealous at first but then was happy for them. King Roland was happy but very worried for his wife's life after his first wife died in childbirth. Miranda was so happy and excited for the new baby. After months of waiting and adventures, the baby was born a beautiful baby girl that they named Sora. She had a mix of light and dark brown hair. When she opened her eyes one was blue like her mother and the other with green specks in them from her father like stars. Sofia was so happy to be a big sister. When she looked at her sister she thought she saw a light glow where her heart was but when she blinked the light glow was gone.

Sora was a giggling ball of happiness. As the years passed, Sora grew into a fun loving, goofy, courageous, kind and loyal person who would help anyone in need. As she grew, she became best friends with the captain of the guard's son, Riku and a girl named Kairi who mysteriously appeared one day after a meteor shower. She was taken in by the court magician, Cedric the Great, and started learning magic. A little before Kairi appeared, Sora found her heart being shared by two other beings that needed to join with her in order to recover. There names were Ventus and Vanitas the two didn't get along at first they fought each other all the time. Eventually, however, they both grew to see Sora as a little sister and began to get along, at least a little bit. Sora tried to tell others about the voices in her heart but no one but Riku and Kairi believed her. Others just thought she had an active imagination.

As Sora grew older she wanted to forge her own path. Every time she tried something she was even mildly interested in like sword fighting, astrology, or pegasus riding, someone always said to her "Aww, are you following in your siblings footsteps?" or "Aww, do you want to be just like your big brother or sister?" After a while, she started to get really annoyed with people when they said this. Thankfully, Riku and Kairi both knew not to do this and were respectful towards Sora and her interests.

When Sora turned thirteen, Sofia gave Sora an amulet similar to the Amulet of Avalor that she got form the Mystic Isles. After she helped some baby turtles get to the ocean she gained the ability to talk to animals. However, there was more than the amulet that would make the trio special. Ever since Kairi was found when she was young, Riku was curious about worlds outside of their own seeing as how she came from lands unknown. It was because of this, along with meeting two strangers from the outside world and Ventus and Vanitas telling them about their adventures, that the trio would try to search for ways to reach other worlds. Another reason they want to go to other worlds was to help Ven find his missing friends Terra and Aqua. This summer, the three of them had a plan to do just that.


	2. The Door Has Opened

Sora, who was wearing a red dress, that was black and white at the top, with pockets and a heart-shaped buckle with socks with frills and yellow shoes. Her hair was in long pigtails in star shaped hair ties. Sora opened her eyes just having the most strangest dream she ever had. She was on a stained glass window pillar with pictures of princess that had helped her sister in the past and fought these weird shadow beings, including a gigantic shadow being. She got up to stretch yawned and went to lay back down. While she did this Kairi was suddenly in her field of vision. "Sora?"

"Whoa!" Sora said as she jumped to her feet. "Give me a break Kairi."

"Sora you lazy bum."

How could you not hear Ocean Wizard coming, Sky Princess? We are on the beach with few people around. You should have heard her steps coming.

**Lay off Vanitas. **

I'm just saying. If she doesn't want the dangers of the other worlds after her, Ocean Wizard, and Silver Knight, then she needs to be aware of her surroundings.

**Not everything is out to get them and besides Sora was trained by the guard in self defense and in some magic by Cedric. Plus, Riku has been trained by the guard since he could walk and Kairi has been studying magic since she got here. I think they can defend themselves and each other.**

That might be true, but don't make me laugh.

"Would the three of you just give me a break?" Sora said in annoyance at her brothers and the girl she sees as a sister.

"They are arguing again, aren't they?" asked Kairi, referring to the two hearts inside of Sora that only she and Riku believed her when she told people. Everyone else thought it was Sora's big imagination.

"Yeah, but not as bad when they first got here they got a lot better," Sora responded.

"So what are they fighting about this time?" asked Kairi.

"Vani said that I should be more aware of my surroundings or something might get me, as if every world is full of dangers and Ven says that not every world has dangers and that we can defend ourselves and each other," said Sora.

Kairi nods, agreeing with both of them. She may not remember her home world and was pretty sure that it was safe, but there could be dangerous out there like the Heartless. But they all know how to defend themselves. "Well, of course a knight and magician need to protect their princess," said Kairi in a joking tone.

Sora stuck her tongue out in response and then they both laughed.

"I would love to see other worlds, though just as soon as we figure out how."

"You sure Riku's idea won't work, even with my protection spell?" asked Kairi.

"Let's just say that when I told them our plan that Vanitas laughed for hours and Ventus just gave me an apologetic smile," Sora responded.

And you know if Wind here thinks your idea is dumb you know it stinks.

Ven just rolled his eyes at his other half.

After talking for a few minutes, Riku joined his friends. The three of them played on the island till sunset. The three of them ended the day just like how they end the day every time they come to play at the island sitting, or in Riku's case lying on their usual tree.

"We need to find a way to get to other worlds soon. It is going to be so amazing. Going on adventures and exploring different worlds, said Sora.

"Do Ventus and Vanitas have any idea how?" asked Riku. Sora shrugged.

"They both have their own ways of going into the lanes between but Vanitas's way is too dangers for us and Ven's way won't work because we need special armor made out of materials that are not found in Enchancia or the other kingdoms."

"You sure it can't be found?" asked Kairi, just hoping that Sora might just have missed something.

"I'm sure. I asked around. None of the blacksmiths can make it because of it being made out of made up material," said Sora with annoyance in her voice.

Riku nodded. No use going to other worlds if they service the trip there, but this didn't mean they would give up. It just meant that they would just have to find another way.

A few minutes later the flying carriage came to take them home.

* * *

The next day, Sora was exploring the secret spot on the island looking at the pictures of her Kairi and Riku on the wall that they had drawn as kids it had taken a lot of begging and puppy dog eyes to get Riku to draw with them that day. They didn't look exactly like them as they were 4 and 5 when they drew them but that didn't matter to them.

Your just adorable, sweet honestly.

**(Ven laughed at that)**

The two of them were always joking and teasing her. The two hearts inside of her have grown to love and care for her and each other to an extent over the years and she could not see her life without them. They were like her siblings and she knew they felt the same way. Sora also knew she would be crushed if she ever lost them. Hopefully however, when the two do get their own bodies back, which would be inevitable, the two would still visit from time to time, which Sora would still do for them.

Your so silly you can't get rid of us that easily. Vanitas said with a warm smile on his face.

**We'll never be far away, Sora. Said Ventus with a kind smile.**

Sora was shocked out of there conversation when someone in a strange cloak approached Sora.

"Who's there?" She asked as she looked around. She saw something in the shadows, it was something that stood hunched over with a brown cloak on.

Why is that person wearing a potato sack? Asked Vanitas confused.

"This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness...soon to be completely eclipsed...," the mysterious figure said.

Sky, get away from this nut job now.

A chill crept up Sora's spine at this. "Well, whoever you are, you're freaking me out! … Where did you come from, anyway?!"

The figure refused to answer the question, but instead slowly said, "There is much to learn. You know so little."

Hey Ventus does he seem...

**Familiar? Yeah, and not in a good way.**

"Wait, you're from another world, aren't you?"

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"Well I just learn what's out there, no one is born with knowledge," Sora said angrily.

After this, the figure suddenly vanished before Sora could say anything else.

Sora was so confused after the stranger left and Ven, Vani were worried but tries not to show it.

When Sora left the cave she found Kairi making good luck charms out of shells for the three of them so that the three of them will always be together when they left for other worlds.

Later that night, Sora was in her room. The room was very spacious with a mural on the walls of things she had seen in her dreams. It started with stained glass pictures of a unicorn, a bear, a snake, a fox, and a leopard in a circle with a heart with wings in the center. It then changed to a town with a big clock tower castle in the center of it, with a bunch of people with giant keys and little cat bear like things with little bags running around the town. The next part of the mural was an absolute desert wasteland, where four animal masked and robed people, along with many other key wielders were fighting each other. The next part of the mural was a land of many islands carrying a version of the clock tower castle town on each island, all connected by cable cars and with two boys playing chess in the window. Following that, was the current final mural, with a single large castle on a hill near a cliff side, where there were three people sitting on it. On her bed were plush dolls that her mother and sister helped her make, they were of people from her mural like the people in cloaks and the unicorn, bears, snakes, foxes and leopard masks, two people in black clocks, a boy with silver hair and a red scarf, a girl wearing black with straight black hair, a girl with orange hair in long pigtails wearing white, a boy with pink hair, a girl with blond short pigtails wearing blue, and a boy with black hair wearing a hat. She had more plushies that were still in progress that she had in her magic bag, which had been enchanted to hold infinity other things she had in her bag were her sketchbook, art supplies, munny, food, water, clothes, a photo album, her diary, sewing kit, first aid kit and potions among other things they might need on their adventures buttercups are always prepared. Riku and Kairi had similar bags. She was on her laying on her bed hugging a big plush of a cat-bear being holding a purse and wearing a cape it was her favorite.

Suddenly, a storm began to start outside, and a very serious one at that. At first, Sora was considering just staying inside the castle. However, something in her heart was telling her that Riku and Kairi were on the island and in danger.

Darkness 

**Sora, we have to go help your friends.**

"Right," Sora grabbed her bag and went through the secret passage from her room to the stables, noting that the pegasi that Riku and Kairi usually use are gone. She grabbed her Pegasus Starla and rode to the island. While she was taking off she could hear people shouting for her, Kairi, and Riku. On the way there, she noticed the other pegasi but Riku and Kairi weren't on them. They flew too fast to ask them where they were so she just kept flying.

"You sure this a good idea?" asked Starla.

"No, but I have to help my friends," Sora responded.

When she got there she told Starla to go home and get help just in case. Starla didn't want to go but listened after seeing the look on her face and flew off.

There were these strange bug like creatures with yellow glowing eyes everywhere.

Just ignore these Heartless and find your friends, Sky.

**Yeah, Sora. You don't have any weapons or spells that can destroy them. Let's get going and find the other.**

"OK." Sora ran from the Heartless. Like they said, the weapons she had on her did not work and the spells did little to nothing to them. This worried her for the safety of her family, Enchancia , the other kingdoms and many more places in her world. She just kept running, dodging Heartless till she found Riku at the place they all always watched the sunset.

"Riku!" Sora shouted at her personal knight and big brother like figure, who was facing the ocean and the darkness as his hair whipped in the blowing wind he had his bag on his back. "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!"

Riku slowly turned to Sora, "The door has opened…"

"Riku?"

OK, Silver's talking cryptic, Sky. Better knock him out.

**Vanitas, I don't usually agree with you but Sora this is not a good sign.**

There was something wrong with Riku. He was talking weird and was talking about a door. Did he refer to the door in the cave or some other door?

"The door is open, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku said with a rush of excitement in his eyes. I'm sure they understand.

Ven and Vani were silent over what Riku just said

This is still two dangers you and your friends could end up stranded in a world you know nothing about fill with who knows what. What would you do then.

"What are you talking about, Riku? Did you eat the island's mushrooms or something? We've got to find Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku shouted as loud as his voice would allow him. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. But this might be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us!"

That is our point, stupid.

**Sora you need to stop this please.**

"_But what about your friends Terra and Aqua? This could be our only chance to look for them," Sora thought to the two hearts._

Don't you dare.

**Sora, I don't want you getting put into any kind of danger because of me. The darkness is dangerous and no means of transportation or of getting home. Even if me and Vanitas can keep your heart safe, that doesn't mean we can keep your friends heart's safe. Besides, Terra and Aqua wouldn't want us to endanger ourselves to save them.**

"I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Riku shouted.

"Riku, I am your princess and as such I order you to stand down and help me find Kairi so we kind find some place safe until help arrives," said Sora with a stern voice. She hates to pull rank on the friends.

As she said this, darkness surrounded Riku. He stretched out his hand so Sora could take it. Sora went to grab Riku's hand to try and pull him away from the darkness, but more heartless were on there way. She heard Riku call her name in worry, the darkness was swallowing up Riku fast. She kept trying to reach but could not make it. Then, as the darkness almost swallowed the both of them up, a light exploded around her. When she opened her eyes a keyblade was in her hand. For some reason, the name the Kingdom Key popped into her head.

**How in the worlds did you get a keyblade? We don't know how to bequeath them. ****Hey stop copying me.**

"Can we not do this right now?" said Sora, a little annoyed.

Fine.

**OK.**

Sora ran towards the strange door near the waterfall fighting heartless along the way. Something in her heart was telling her Kairi was there. When Sora got there Kairi was standing in the secret spot staring at the strange door, her bag on her back and her wand in her hand but something was off.

Kairi slowly and sadly turned toward her, "Sora…?"

"Is everyone eating the mushrooms today?" Sora muttered to herself.

The moment that she reached out for Sora, the door opened up with a wave of darkness pushing Kairi toward Sora like the blast from an explosion. Sora tried to catch Kairi in her arms, only for her to phase right through her. Afterwards, Sora got pushed back by the darkness, flying out of the cave and onto an island high above the Destiny Islands. When Sora got up she looked to see a giant heartless and her world being destroyed around her.

Who ever caused this is going to pay. I'm going to tear them apart piece by piece.

**Save some for me.**

"At least you two are agreeing more than ever," said Sora jokingly.

As Sora was fighting the giant heartless she could hear people shouting her name. Before she can realize what was happening, the winds started to drag her towards the giant ball of darkness in the sky. Then everything went dark. The last thing she heard was a group of people shouting SORA.


	3. A Strange New World Part 1

**Sora, Sora.**

Sky wake up.

Sora was so used to Ventus and Vanitas trying to wake her up in the morning that she just tried to go back to sleep and wait for Bailywick or some woodland creatures to wake her up. But something was licking her face so she opened her eyes. When she opened them, there was a strange yellow dog. Sora blinked a few times while she got up this was not any place she has been to before. Before she could ask the dog anything it ran off.

"Where are we?" asked Sora in a concerned voice grabbing her silver crown shaped necklaces and blue amulet in nervous habit.

**Not any world we've been to.**

Yeah, so be vigilant Sky. That was who knows what could have happened to you and your friends. When we find Sliver I'm going to give him some very choice words, regardless of whether or not he can understand them.

**Me too. But what's done is done and we need to make the best of the situation.**

"That's true we need to find Riku, Kairi, my family or anyone else from my world," said Sora as she grabbed her bag.

About Ocean Wizard.

"What about her?" asked Sora, worriedly walking through the unfamiliar world.

**_Sora?_**

"What the?" Sora jumped up in surprise. "Kairi? Are you in my heart?"

She could hear a giggle that was definitely her. **_It seem so._**

**We found her on the beach as if she was in a crashed ship**

_**So your heart looks like the island. She commented.**_

"Are you OK Kairi? Sora asked in concern.

_**I'm OK Sora, thanks to Ven and Vanitas. I never thought that they looked so much like you though. Is it because I'm in your heart I see them with your face? She asked.**_

"No they always looked like that."

_**Oh, ok.**_

"Should I come in?"

No, stay vigilant. The Heartless could be anywhere and we don't need you falling asleep somewhere unsafe.

"Right! Can you guys take care of kairi please?"

**Of course said Ven **while Vanitas nodded. She could feel Kairi smile and her heart, warming hers.

"Wait, if your heart is here, does that mean you turned into a heartless or is this like what happened to ven?"

It's like what happened to Wind here. Her heart is pure like actually pure so her body should be around here if we are lucky or another world. We just need to find it.

"That's better I guess. But we need no find her body fast before something bad happens to it."

**That's for sure** agreed Ven with the other two hearts in her heart nodded in agreement.

As Sora went around the town looking for anyone she recognized while fighting every Heartless. She eventually found an Accessory Shop.

Hey, maybe Amber is here.

She runs inside hoping to find her sister but when she gets inside the only person there is a middle aged blond guy behind the counter.

"Hey there, how can I...Aw, it's only a kid," The man said.

"I'm not a kid! And the name's Sora!" Sora shot back.

"Okay, okay, simmer down. So, what's up, Sora?"

"Well you see…" Sora explained everything that happened to her recently, from the darkness covering the Destiny Islands and all of the land, to the appearance of the Heartless, to her two friends disappearing, to the appearance of the Keyblade. After Sora was finished, the man fell silent.

"Uh-huh, I see…" The man finally said.

"So, gramps, is this really another world?"

"Don't call me gramps, the name's Cid!"

"Okay...Cid. So this is another world, isn't it?" Sora said as he stared at Cid closely.

"Not sure what you're talking about, but this sure ain't your island or your kingdom."

"Yeah… Hey, Cid. Do you think Riku and my family are here, too?"

"Hmm. Couldn't tell ya." Cid frowned.

"Well, I better start looking for them."

"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you ever run into trouble, you come to me. I'll look out for you."

"Thanks!"

Sora left the shop to look for Riku, her family, Kairi's body, and any one she can recognize.

Your manners are slipping, Sky. After all of those classes at Royal Prep too. Said Vanitas in a joking manner to try and cheer her up after such a hectic day.

"Well excuse me for having gone through my entire world being destroyed and everyone I care about being who knows where, shadow!" yelled Sora in frustration. Then Sora immediately covered her mouth and said sorry with so much sincerity in her voice.

Sorry, Vanitas said a bit annoyed at Sora's attitude.

**Don't mind him, Sora. You're only having this attitude because you are worried about your friends and family, which I can understand.**

_**Yeah, it's been a long and hectic day. And so much has happened anyone would be upset. Kairi said to try and cheer up her friend and sister like figure.**_

"But still I'm so so sorry. We have all been through a lot and have people missing, but that is no excuse for my behavior."

"Huh, lets just look around and see if we can find anyone."

Fine.

**Ok.**

_**Sounds good.**_

Sora continued her search around Traverse Town. She felt like she was being followed but she just put that up to the Heartless. As she was searching she found a house when she looked inside all she found was two very sad dalmatian dogs.

"Excuse me, are both of you ok?" Sora asked wanting to know if there is a way for her to help them.

"My name is Pongo and this is my wife Perdita, though I doubt you can understand that," the male dalmatian said.

"Actually, I can understand you perfectly fine. Also, the name is Sora if you needed to know," Sora responded.

"How?"

"My amulet gives me the ability to talk to animals among other abilities. So do you mind telling me why your sad, is there anyway I can help?

"Our puppies are missing. They have been for some time. We believe that they have been scattered across the multiple worlds," Pongo responded.

"Don't worry. I will go out and find them for you. How many can there be, anyway?"

"There are 99 puppies in total," Perdita answered.

"Wow. That is a lot of puppies," Sora responded in shock at the number of puppies.

**_Yeah, I bet they are all going to be so adorable._**

Yeah, I promise I will find all your puppies."

"Thank you so much," Perdita and Pongo said, both relieved that someone was going to help look for their puppies.

Sora left the dalmatian's house and went on searching through all the districts for anyone she recognized, fighting Heartless along the way.

"Still no one," said Sora with sadness in her voice.

**Don't fret, Sora. We'll find them soon.**

Maybe that Cid guy has heard something by now.

**_Yeah, Sora. It's been awhile. Maybe someone came by. Lets go check._**

"Yeah, I keep getting this feeling that someone is there," said Sora as she ran back to Cid's shop to see if Cid has seen anyone or to see if anyone else was there.

"Hey there, how… Oh, it's just Sora," Cid said, disappointed in the lack of customers."

"What d'you mean, just me?" asked in confusion

"Still can't find your friends or family, can you?"

"No…" Sora said with a sad look on her face. I keep feeling like I'll find somebody here!"

Hmm…" Cid stroked the stubble on his chin. "Well then, you don't wanna give up now. Why don't ya take another look around town?"

"You're right. I can't give up now. Thank you.

Cid gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. "Course I am."

"Okay, I'm going to go look some more now. Thank you for all your help Mr. Cid.

"There ya go. Good thing you got plenty of energy, kid, And it's just Cid. No need for any of this Mr."

"Ok, and I would appreciate not being called a kid. My name is Sora," said Sora, trying to not let her bad day affect all the values her parents and all siblings instilled in her

Feeling more encouraged, Sora ran out of the shop again. Then she heard another man's voice. "They'll come at you out of nowhere."

"Who's there?" Sora turned toward the voice with Keyblade in hand, ready to face said man.

"And they'll keep coming at you...as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." The man had a strange gun sword in his hands. "But why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? And how do you know what a Keyblade is?"

"Never mind. Now, let me see that Keyblade."

The man came closer. At this, Sora got into a fighting position. "What! There's no way you're getting this!"

He gave Sora a cold smile "...All right, then we'll have to do this the hard way."  
**Kick his butt.** Said Ventus This shocked Vanitas and Sora then smirked.

_**Alright! Go Sora. Said Kairi.**_

When the fight started needless to say the strange tall man didn't expect for this fourteen year old girl to know to fight so well and keep up with him, let alone be able to catch him off guard. Sora was fast and well trained from the royal guards. Sora was able to get this stranger in a corner but before Sora could knock him out, he was suddenly interrupted by Vanitas and Ventus.

**Sora!**

Behind you!

Before Sora could react, someone snuck up from behind her and knocked her out.

"Aw, you're slipping Leon." A girl with black hair said to the man.

"I went easy on her. Though she did better than I expected," Leon responded. "Still, it appears that things are worse than we thought. A lot worse."


	4. A Strange New World Part 2

Sora woke up with a splitting headache. "Someone got the number of that carriage?"

**Sora, are you ok?**

Careful, Sky. You got hit pretty hard.

_**Sora, you're not to hurt are you?**_

"I'll be fine. This is nothing compared to Ventus' and Vanitas's training regiment." Sora said as she held her head, trying to not worry the others.

"You ok?"

"I guess…" she sat up slowly, trying to focus on the black haired girl talking to her.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

"OK, but who are you miss?"

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie! And It's not miss."

Sora nodded but grabbed her head in pain.

Yuffie turned to the man standing behind her. "I think we might have overdone it, Squall. Yuffie said as she gave Sora a potion.

"That's Leon and not Mr."

It was the man Sora had fought in the square. She stiffened.

"You're…"

Sky, let one of us take him you need to rest.

**Yeah.**

Kairi and Sora had to hold the two boys back.

"We're not bad guys. Take a look around," Leon said reassuringly.

Ven and Vani calmed down for a minute to see if what he said was true.

"Where…"

When she looked around it looked like they were in a room in the hotel she'd seen in the second district. The bed sora had just woken up in was nice and soft but not as much as her bed at home, and next to her there was a cool, damp towel they must have been using to ice her head. The Keyblade rested against the wall.

"We had to get the Keyblade away from you to shake off those creatures," said Yuffie.

"It turns out that's how they were tracking you. It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon went on.

As they were telling Sora this she was having her own conversion.

_So should i tell them that i already know this and about you guys?_

No way, Sky. We still know nothing about them. They could still be the enemy.

**They did attack you, Sora. **

_**I think we can give them a chance. Attacking Sora and knocking her out was bad but they did ice her head and gave her a potion when they didn't have to.**_

_What if we wait and see and if we can trust them. We can tell what you guys are comfortable with and before that I'll just play dumb, OK?_

Fine.

**Ok.**

_**Sounds good to me.**_

"Conceal my heart?" Sora asked as she looked up at him

"Once you lost consciousness, they lost track of your heart. But it won't last for long."

_Is that true?_

Yeah so far.

**Let's see if they tell us the truth if you ask.**

_**Sounds good to me.**_

"Still hard to believe … that you of all people are the chosen one." Leon picked up the Keyblade and swung it through the air. It sparkled and vanished from Leon's hand, then reappeared in Sora's. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"None of this is making any sense!" Sora complained. "What's going on here?"

Leon and Yuffie looked at each other.

"So… this is the key?" Sora held up the Keyblade, staring at it.

"Exactly!" Yuffie nodded

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," said Leon. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this," Sora protested to them but inside she knew this was not true.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you!" Yuffie poked the Keyblade.

Leon gave them a cynical smile. "So, tough luck."

"Tough luck? C'mon.. I mean, how did all this happen?" All 4 of them were wondering this. I remember being in my room… Then Sora gasped and leapt to her feet, looking at Them frantically. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? The Kingdom? My island? Riku! Kairi! My family!" Leon only shook his head.

But…

"Calm down. There's still more to explain." Leon quieted her with a look.

Sora calmed down and continued to listen to them so far they have been telling the truth from a non Keyblade wielder only knowing legends according to Ventus and Vanitas.

"What could have happened to them?" Asked Sora trying to keep the tears out of her eyes.

"Did you see a large door open?" Leon asked

"Yeah, I did."

That big white door, and then… But there must have been a door before that.

"Each world has a Keyhole. And each Keyhole is connected to the heart of that world."

"The heart of a world…?"

"No one knows what the heart of a world looks like yet. But the Heartless come in search of the Keyholes." Leon pushed his hair back and glanced toward the neighboring room.

"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core," said Yuffie, peering closely at Sora and poking at the Keyblade.

"And then what happens?" asked Sora with worry in her voice.

"Darkness come out from the Keyhole. And then the world disappears."

"What?!" Sora jumped up again, staring at the other two. That great big door. And the darkness that poured out of it. The collapsing island… "Like our world did?"

"That's right," Leon said gravely. "That's why you have to lock the Keyholes."

Sora weakly shook her head. "But I have to find Riku, Kairi and my family…"

"The worlds that are destroyed get scattered across other worlds," Yuffie told him gently. "So, while you're visiting other worlds, maybe you'll find your family and friends."

At that Sora looked up.

"Maybe. There's still a lot we don't know," said Leon.

"Okay… So I have to lock these worlds, right? But how do I get to…"

Sora trailed off. They felt a strange presence.

"Leon!" Yuffie pointed at the corner. A shadow appeared there- a Heartless.

What! Sky get ready.

**Kick their butts Sora.**

_**You can do it.**_

"Yuffie, go!" Leon shouted. She took the Shuriken from her back and dashed out to the neighboring room. Sora sat there bewildered.

"Let's go, Sora!"

"But-!"

"The Heartless have sniffed you out. The darkness in your heart… in the heart of the Keyblade wielder!"

"Darkness-?"

"Sora, stay with me!"

**Stay close the Heartless are starting swarm.**

Hey Sky, you want me to take over? They all would be to scared to attack.

**Vanitas no.**

Vanitas yes.

Are they always like this? asked Kairi.

_Unfortunately yes._

Sora and Leon fight off the Heartless and at one point they got separated from each other. Sora was fighting and ended up in the Third District then she heard some odd shrieks from overhead, Sora looked up, but just a moment too late.

"Waaak!"

"Ahwee!"

"Oof…"

Someone had landed on her then someone else cased on top of both of them.

"What just happened…?" Sora asked the people in her heart, still holding on to the Keyblade even while being squished.

Two voices chorused from on top of her, "The Key!"

And then something strange came over the Third District.

"Wh-what's going on?!"

The three of them got up nearly all at once and readied their weapons. The three of them kept fighting the Heartless. Sora was a little shocked that a duck with a wand and a dog with a shield were helping her fight but Ven seemed to know them and said he would explain when things calmed down. The next thing the three of them knew, a giant Heartless made out of armor it took a wail with the duck firing out spells she and kairi never heard of and the dog ramming into the Heartless with his shield while Sora was attacking it with her Keyblade. After a hard fight, they had finally defeated the giant Heartless.

All three of them watched, the Heartless dissolved into little sparks of light and disappeared.

"All right! We won!" Sora said while jumping at the duck and hugging him.

"Wak?!"

Sora could hear giggling from her heart.

"We did it!" Cried the dog and did the same thing.

"Not too shabby, Sora," came a voice above them.

Sora looked up to see Leon standing atop the wall. "Well, I didn't beat it myself, you know," Sora said smiling, while speaking over the ducks head.

Leon jumped down from the wall. "They've been looking for you."

"For me?" Sora asked wondering why strangers would be looking for her.

"For the Keyblade wielder"

Sora turned to the two uneasily.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Asked the dog. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

"I wonder if I can find Riku, Kairi, or my family…"

"Of course."

_Do you think we can trust them_

I don't trust them. Something just seems off.

**You don't trust anyone new at first. Vanitas, they won't hurt Sora. They're good guys. I know them, they are my friends Donald and Goofy. They work for King Mickey.**

_**I think we should give them a chance.**_

_Besides, they're the only ones we know have a way to go to other worlds. We need their help._

**Of course you can do it.**

Plus, if anything happens, we will help.

_**Yeah I know you can do. I know you will find Riku, our families, and my body.**_

_Yeah, you're right._

"Hey, you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" Donald said.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" Goofy said.

"This boat runs on happy faces."

"Happy?" Sora asked in a sad tone before giving them a goofy smile. That made them both laugh.

"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora."

Not giving your full name and title? He asked jokingly.

**Vanitas.**

_No, not yet. I want them to treat me like a normal person. Besides, Ven said they worked for a king. They might not let me go if they find out I'm a princess._

_**It's OK Sora. You are the toughest princess I have ever met. Kairi said trying to encourage her friend.**_

_Thanks Kairi. She said in appreciation._

"All for one, one for all," said Goofy while the three of put their hands together.

The three of them said goodbye to Leon and Yuffie, who had shown up at some point. They headed to the ship, with was apparently called a Gummi ship, and headed to a different world to begin there searches. Donald and Goofy for their king. And Sora for her family, Riku, and Kairi's body.

As the group was about to leave, a cricket jumped out of Donald's pocket. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Ack!" Sora fell back onto his behind in shock due to the sudden appearance of the cricket.

"The name's Jiminy Cricket. I'll be going with you, too."

"You really surprised me, there. My name is Sora, and it is nice to meet you Mr. Cricket," Sora held out her hand for the cricket to shake, with Jiminy grabbing hold of Sora's fingertip to shake.

"Likewise, though you don't have to call me Mr. I will stay on the ship to watch over things and to record our journey. Is everyone ready?"

"You bet! We got plenty of items, snacks, and accessories for our journey ahead of us." Goofy said as he thumped his chest.

"Well then, let's be off! There must be some really big adventures coming your way. I'll be here to assist you and to record your journey."

"Thanks Jiminy."

Jiminy politely doffed his hat and bowed and jumped into Sora's pocket.

"Okay, here we go. Let's hurry up and find the king…" Donald headed toward the ship.

"Meanwhile, I'm going to look for Riku and my family." said Sora as he followed Donald into the ship.

Goofy followed the both of them. "And we also gotta lock the Keyholes, too!"

Together, the trio took off for other worlds inside of the Gummi Ship.


	5. Misadventures in Wonderland

The Gummi Ship hurtled the ways between to other worlds. Donaled was flying the ship through space getting a little annoyed at Sora's constant questions while he was driving and dodging enemies. Sora, on the other hand was so excited, asking her and kairi's questions to both Donald and Goofy and trying to explore the Gummi Ship's cockpit a little.

"So, how does this thing move?" Sora asked as the Gummi Ship was the most advanced thing she has ever seen and that was saying something with all the stuff Gwen had invented over the years. She really wanted to know how it worked.

"Well, it Wak! Can't really talk much right now!" Donald replied, gripping the control stick, and the ship banked a full forty-five degrees. When Sora looked past him to the lands between, she could see big rocks like meteoroids and strange shapes floating around. She was amazed and was sure her family, especially Amber, would love this.

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's pocket. "They say this Gummi Ship runs on some mysterious power.'

"That's right," said Goofy. "That's why it can go between different worlds." Ven, Vani, and Kairi were listening to the conversation and were interested in how it worked also.

"Hmm…" Sora looked around the cabin. There was plenty of space for them all to move around, but it felt different from other charges she has been in. The closest one was the cloud coster.

**This is nothing like my glider.**

Yeah and a lot more comfortable than going through gates of darkness.

_This is kinda like the cloud coaster._

_**This is so cool and you are right Sora. It kinda is.**_

"The stuff used to make this ship is very special," said Jiminy.

"Special? What is it?"

"It's made of a particular material called gummi blocks. And this material-"

"Quack!"

Jiminy, explaining with his memo in one hand, found himself interrupted by Donald's shout.

"There's something up ahead!" Sora and Goofy went running into the cockpit.

"Is that what a world looks like from the outside?" Sora asked fascinated at what she was looking at.

_**Yeah, the world looks so cool.**_

_Have you guys been to this world?_

**Yeah, they all float in the lanes between and no, I haven't been to this world. What about you Vanitas.**

Nope, not me.

She had never seen anything like it before. The world floating there in the lands between was covered in a heart pattern, and there were green arches and a castle. Somewhere she'd never been before- never even dreamed of. She wanted nothing more than to land there.

"Yep," said Donald. "The worlds are all like this, floating here and there in the lanes between."

"Wooow." Sora's eyes showed nothing but wonder.

Goofy and Donald exchanged glances, and the Gummi Ship swooped down to land.

The Gummi Ship touched down in the middle of some strangely colorful fog. None of them could see far ahead of them.

"Okay, we're off!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved to Jiminy, who stayed to watch the ship, and looked around them, stepped off the ship. and -

"Whoa!"

There was no ground. The three of them drifted softly down and down into a deep hole.

"It kind of feels like we're flying." Sora said as a gust of wind from below buffeted in her face. _This is kinda like someone used a floating potion on us and it's just as fun._

**Yeah.**

_**Just like on your sixth birthday. **_

_Yeah Cedric's gift was so fun._

"Hey, watch this!" Said Goofy as he waved his arms as if he were swimming then he rested his head on his elbows in a napping pose. Then Sora and Donald landed lightly on their feet, and Goofy crashed spectacularly onto the ground.

"Owww…" Goofy staggered up to his feet. The Gummi Ship ended up hovering down next to the trio.

"Whoa!"

"Gee, that sure was a surprise." Jiminy poked his head out of the ship. Right in front of them, a white rabbit went scurrying by.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear-I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen-she'll have my head for sure!"

The white rabbit disappeared down the hallway, wearing a pair of glasses and holding a giant watch.

"Why's he in such a hurry?" Sora wondered, staring after him.

"Well, let's find out!" said Donald. "The ship's all yours, Jiminy!"

The trio ran after the white rabbit and finally came to a stop at a door, which they looked like they should be able to get through.

"Well, there's no keyhole," said Goofy. "But looks like that white rabbit went through here."

Goofy opened the door, and beyond it, they could see another door through which the white rabbit was just running.

"Let's go!"

They went through that door and then another… And then they came into a big room.

It had a fireplace and a clock, like someone's living room but somewhat off-there was a large faucet in the room.

Suddenly, the trio saw the white rabbit run into a tiny door and ran through it.

"He shrank?!" Sora ran to the door and crouched down, the door too small for her to go through. "How did he get so small?"  
The doorknob suddenly moved drowsily and said, "No, you're simply too big."

"It talks!" Donald shouted.

The doorknob looked annoyed and made a huge yawn. "Must you be so loud? You woke me up."

Goofy moved closer and cheerfully said, "Good morning!"

"Good night! I need to get more sleep." the doorknob started to go back to sleep.

"Wait! What do we have to do to get small?" Sora asked the doorknob.

"Why don't you try the bottle... over there?"

The three of them turned around and saw two bottles, one with a red label and the other with a blue label, on top of a table.

As they approached the table, they noticed the labels on the bottles with the red label showing a small tree becoming a large tree and the blue label showing a large tree becoming a small tree.

Realizing that the red bottle makes you large and the blue one makes you small, the three drank from the blue bottle and shrunk to a much smaller size onto the table.

Somehow, the Heartless had shrunk with them and were ready to attack the trio.

**This is just like when I went to the castle of dreams the same thing happened to me it was crazy.**

_**Hey can't Sofia shrink and grow just by wishing it?**_

_Yeah. One of her powers from her amulet._

We can talk about this more later. Heartless now.

_**Right.**_

Thankfully, the trio were successfully able to fight off the Heartless and then headed for the door. However, upon reaching the door, they found that it would not open. Fortunately, they found a tunnel to the right of the door and went through that instead. As they exited the strange door they found themselves in a rose hedge shaped like a heart with card guards guarding it. It led to what looked like some sort of outdoor courtroom. When they got a little closer the guards moved to the side and they saw a little blond girl wearing a blue dress and a man with grey hair wearing a suit on the defendatstand and in front of them was a woman dressed like a queen as the judge. Sora was sure the man looked familiar to her. The rabbit from earlier ran up some stairs that were off to the side to a platform and played a trumpet then said, "Court is now in session!"

"I'm on trial? But why?" asked the girl.

"Yes. May I ask for what your majesty?" The man said in a polite way but any sane person could hear the annoyance in his voice.

The rabbit then said, "Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding.

"This girl and man are the culprits. There's no doubt about it. And the reason is… because I say so that's why!"

_That is not how a good ruler does law._

That lady is evil. Can I destroy her?

**Vanitas, no. **

_**This is a kangaroo court.**_

"That is so unfair!" yelled the girl.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" asked the Queen of Hearts.

"Of course! We've done absolutely nothing wrong!"

"The young lady is right we are innocent." said the man.

_Wait that is Balieywick thought Sora in a worried tone._

Don't worry Sky. If anything happens we will help them.

**Yeah. They'll be fine with us here.**

_**I'm sure Baileywick and the girl will be ok we'll help them when there is an opening, OK?**_

_OK_

"You may be queen but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so so… mean!" said the girl with confidence

"Silence! You dare defy me?!" The Queen of Hearts yelled angrily.

"Hey guys, we should help them out. That man looks kind of familiar."

"Yeah but…" said Donald.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" asked Goofy.

"Meddling!"

"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

"But...!" Sora tried to but in.

"The court finds the defendants… guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart… off with their heads!"

"Hua!" Sora breathed out.

"No! No! Oh please!" said the girl in panic.

"Oh no! Please I need to find my… my family," Balieywick said with tears in his eyes thinking of all the people he cares about.

"Hold it right there!" Yelled Sora as she, Donald, and Goofy ran towards Baileywick and the girl.

Baileywick was shocked, "Prin…"

"Quiet!" Yelled the queen. "Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?!" Asked the Queen of Hearts.

"Excuse me, your majesty." said Sora as she curtseyed. "We know who the real culprit is!"

"Uh-huh . It's the Heartle-," Goofy said then covered his mouth.

Trying to still be polite so the queen might listen and so no one will get hurt sora continued but she was still annoyed. "Anyway, they are not the ones you're looking for."

"That's nonsense. Do you have any proof?"

Oh, we need proof but she doesn't! Vanitas said in an annoyed tone.

**Uggh. This is the worst.**

_**Witch.**_

The girl and Baliywick were put into two gold cages. The Queen of Hearts told them to look for evidence of the girl Alice and Baileywick's innocence. If they failed, it was off with all their heads.

Before leaving to look for some evidence, the trio decided to talk with Alice and Baileywick.

"Hello there, you two. Are you both okay?" Sora asked the trapped duo.

"We're fine, all things considered. I just wish that we weren't in serious danger right now," the girl answered. "By the way, my name's Alice, and this is Baileywick."

"So, how did the two of you get here anyway?" asked Sora.

"Well, I followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole and then got captured by the playing cards not long afterward," Alice answered.

Before Baileywick could say anything, Sora mouthed to him, "No princess."

"I just arrived here after our world got shrouded in darkness, lady Sora," Baileywick answered.

"Don't worry. Donald, Goofy, and I will find a way to free you two. We just need to find the right evidence," Sora reassured.

Before anyone else could say anything, the card guards dragged Sora away. "Hey! No talking with the accused," one of the guards yelled at Sora.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy left the area and found a cat called the Cheshire Cat. It gave them some cryptic advice in riddles and from what they could understand they needed to go around and find the evidence. They decided to split up to find the evidence faster. As Sora was looking for the evidence she found lots of chest, some had healing items, some had weird crystals or jewels, and some had dalmatian puppies. After looking she had found 12 of the puppies. Some of the chests were easier to find than others. But she found all the chests. She returned to the gummi ship really quick to drop off the puppies. During this, she found two boxes of evidence. One on a fire place and another one near a giant faucet on a ledge. When she got that one, the cat appeared and congulated her and gave her the spell blizzard. Just like Donald had given her the fire spell and Goofy gave her the dodge roll back at Traverse Town.

_**These puppies are all so adorable. I want to keep them all.**_

_Me too. They are just precious._

**Hate to burst your bubble but…**

We are not keeping them.

_**We know. They said in annoyance.**_

_We know. They said in annoyance._

Sora entered the Gummi Ship in order to drop off the puppies. "Hey, Jiminy. I found these puppies across Wonderland. I promised their parents that I would look for them. Can you please watch them until I get back?"

"Sora, there are twelve of them. This is a tall order that you are asking for," Jiminy said.

"Please Jiminy. Look at their little faces," Sora pleaded for the cricket to agree. The puppies all gave sad puppy looks, begging for Jiminy to agree to help him.

Eventually, Jiminy's resolve broke, "Okay, fine. I'll watch over the puppies. But you will have to convince Donald and Goofy on your own."

"Ok that shouldn't be too hard. Look at them. Who could say no to those faces?"

Sora ran back to Donald and Goofy with the evidence in her bag.

"Hey I found some evidence. What about you guys?"

"I found some," said Donald.

"Me too," Goofy also said.

"This looks like enough. Let's go get those two their freedom."

They entered the courtroom and presented the evidence to the queen. With the evidence the queen summoned four boxes. Sora picked one and a heartless came out. Even with this, the queen still said, "I'm the law here! Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!"

"That's crazy!" yelled Donald.

I agree with the duck. She mad.

**Yeah, this is a circus not a courtroom.**

_**She needs to be brought down a peg or two. Get'em Sora.**_

_Right_

"Seize them at once!" the queen ordered.

The guards made the cages go up and curtains covered them. Sora, donaled, and Goofy fought the card guards, only for the guards to keep recovering and get back up. Eventually, the trio agreed to just attack the device holding the two captives up and run. They constantly attacked the winch while avoiding the guard's attacks, eventually breaking the device and lowering it. However, when the curtains were moved, Alice was gone. The queen of hearts was not happy and ordered her guards to find Alice immediately.

"Baileywick, are you ok? What happened to Alice?

"I'm not quite sure pri-, I meen lady Sora. All I know is that I heard what sounded like her being grabbed by someone."

"We better go and look for Alice, make sure she is okay," Sora decided.

As they left the queens courtroom they ran into the cheshire cat again and he was as confusing as before talking about shadows and the upside down room so they went there. When they got there, they noticed that the room was the main room again, just upside down. After fighting off the Heartless in the room, Sora lit both of the lanterns that were hanging on the ceiling. Then, the trio returned to the room again rightside up and a large Heartless appeared.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy proceeded to fight the giant Heartless. Sora jumped up using the table and hit the Heartless in the head three times in a row, causing the Heartless to fall down. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the trio constantly attacked the Heartless. Eventually, the Heartless got back up again and proceeded to get rid of the table. He also used the nearby stove to light his rods on fire. He attacked the trio with his new fire powers, dealing a lot of damage to the trio. Fortunately, the trio were able to get in more attacks as time went on and, eventually, they were able to defeat the Trickster Heartless. After the Heartless faded away Baileywick came out of his hiding spot. Before anyone can say anything the doorknob wakes up annoyed then as the doorknob yawned an outline of a keyhole appeared, just then the Keyblade started glowing and shot a beam of light of light into the hole and a weird block thing came out. The cat showed up and told them that Alice was no longer in that world so they decided to look for her in other worlds and went back to the Gummi Ship.

When they got to the Gummi Ship they were met with a swarm of puppies.

"Oh, I forgot something. Hey Donald, Goofy. I forgot to tell you that I kinda promised these two dalmatians that I would find their puppies. Can we look for them while in different worlds and hold onto any we find until we can take them home? Please?" Sora pleaded with the puppies also gave the two pleading looks.

"Sure thing Sora. Hyuck."

Donolad begrudgingly said yes, but he was mad about it.

Haha. They caved in fast.

**Of course who can say no to that face?**

_**How many times have you two fallen for it?**_

**Not that many times.**

Barely any.

_They haven't won once._

Both Ven and Vani started to blush beat red with Sora and Kairi giggling at there embarrassment.


	6. Jungle Panic

After leaving Wonderland, Sora, Donald, and Goofy returned to Traverse Town in order to drop off the dalmatian puppies with their parents and also Baileywick with Leon and the others.

After a fair amount of flying through the space area in the Gummi Ship, the trio eventually arrived at the outskirts of a new world.

"Hey, Donald. Maybe King Mickey is in this world," Goofy said.

"In a backwater place like that? No way!" Donald shot that idea down.

"But my family or Riku might be down there," Sora said very upset. Something in her heart just knew someone was down there. She felt the same way at Wonderland. "C'mon, Donald, let's just check it out please!"

_Just because the king wouldn't be here didn't mean that they could just ignore this world. Besides, weren't Donald and Goofy helping her look for her family and riku, the same way she was helping them look for the king? She asked the voices in her heart._

What the? That duck better let us go check that world or else.

**I'm sure he will change his mind. He's just worried for the king. **

_**He can be worried, but we have people we need to find. Our friends and family too.**_

"No way, we're on an important mission!" Donald accelerated the gummi ship.

Sora and Donald proceeded to argue with each other, both sides unwilling to stand down. Eventually, Sora just grabbed at the controls and tried to steer the ship towards the jungle world.

"Wak? No, don't press that!" The Gummi Ship started to nosedive down to the strange world. As the ship descended, Donald frantically pressed the buttons in a last ditch effort to steer the ship back on course. Instead of correcting the ship's course, the cockpit opened up and all three of them fell out to the world below. Jiminy, who was holding onto the control stick, wished the trio luck.

As sora was falling ventus and vanitas were having a big argument about what happened.

I knew the duck couldn't be trusted. I bet he was never going to help Sky. They were just using her because she has a Keyblade. I bet if someone else had it they would leave sky no questions asked. I bet you don't care if they did. This is all your fault. Vanitas yelled in anger.

**My fault? How is this my fault? **

You're the one who said they were trustworthy.

**They were, and it's been ten years and yeah what Donald did and said was awful, but it's not my fault. And if they did betray Sora you know I would be right up there with you to give whoever did so a beat down. She is my sister too. **

_**Umm, guys?**_

**What?**

_**Sora is falling, going to hit the ground, and crying her eyes out so I don't think she needs this right now.**_

Before Ven and Vani could say anything, Sora crashed through the roof of a building. Sora sat on the floor unhurt, her amulet glowing and still crying. Unlike what most people would likely suspect, the crying was not due to the fall. It was because two people that she considered friends were just using her.

**Um, are you okay, Sora?**

"I just got betrayed by some people that I considered to be my friends. What do you think?" Sora cried out.

_**Hey, It's going to be ok, Sora. You still have us.**_

If we run into them again, should I hurt them?

Sora giggled at this, her mood lightening up overall. "Thanks, but I don't think that will be necessary."

Before they could say any more Sora heard something. Then a cheetah leaped at her. She used the Keyblade to block the attack and was knocked back.

_**Sora look out!**_

Sora wasn't able to talk to it but for some reason her amulet was not working so she fought to defend herself instead. After she thought she defeated it, it jumped back up then a man in a loin cloth with a spear ran in and saved her. Just his presence made the cheetah run. Sora tried to communicate with the man but the language barrier was heard. He seemed to only know how to say words and mimic what Sora said. He seemed to not know how to form full sentences very well. After a few minutes Tarzan left and Sora followed him out of the tree house and down some vines. As they were sliding down the vines Sora got hit by a few tree branches but she was unhurt and her amulet was glowing.

I guess it is a good thing that you saved Kairi from being hit by a falling piece of wood a few months ago, huh?

_**It wasn't a big deal. You would have done it for anyone.**_

_Yeah, I guess so. Sora thought._

When they got off the vines, they landed in someone's camp. Tarzan took her into the biggest tent that was there. "Jane," Tarzan greeted the woman that was there.

"Tarzan, good to see you again," Jane greeted her friend.

"Hello there, Miss Jane. My name is-," Sora tried to say only to be interrupted.

"Oh, you speak English." she said surprised, "so then obviously you're not related to Tarzan."

"No, my name is Sora. It's very nice to meet you."

Before anyone could say a word more a voice came from another tent nearby.

"Jane! I need a little help getting this dress on." said the voice.

"Coming!" yelled Jane. "I'll be right back you two."

_That voice. I know that voice. _

A few minutes later, Jane comes back with, to Sora's shock and happiness, her sister.

"Amber!" Sora yelled and jumped into her arms, tears in her eyes. "You're okay."

"Wait, Sora?!" Amber realized that her younger sister was right in front of her. She returned the embrace, with tears in her eyes as well. "I can't believe it. You're really here. Are you injured? How long have you been here? Do you know where any of the others are?"

"Relax, I'm fine. I've only been here for less than an hour. I haven't seen very many of the others, though. So far, it has only been Baileywick. He's back in Traverse Town," Sora answered her concerned sister's questions.

The two were so happy to see each other that they didn't notice Clayton, Donald, and Goofy enter the tent.

When Sora noticed Donald and Goofy, she went into a panic attack and entered her heart.

**Sora.**

Sky, what are you doing here?

_**Sora are you ok? Kairi asked as she hugged her crying friend who was sitting on the sand.**_

"_There is no way that I can deal with Donald and Goofy right now. If we had things Donald's way, we would never have found and saved my sister," Sora weeped._

_**But, what are you going to do?**_

"_I don't know, but I am not going back out there right now."_

_**Okay, so one of us needs to take over until Sora feels better. Now, the question is, who should that be?**_

Can it be me? I really want to hurt Donald right now.

_**No.**_

**No.**

Fine, but next time we need to do this, I'm the one who gets to take over.

**I'll do it. I've done it before.**

_**No offense, Ventus, but you weren't exactly the best at mimicking Sora.**_

**Come on, I wasn't that bad.**

_**You didn't know how to curtsy or other things she learned at royal prep.**_

Yeah, you were some princess Venny. Vanitas joked, trying to help cheer up Sora.

**Okay, fine. So I'm not perfect at mimicking Sora. What do you think we should do?**

_**I'll be the one in control when it comes to talking to others while you are in control when it comes to combat. That sound good?**_

**Actually, yes. That does sound good.**

Kairi opens Sora's eyes. She was laying on the ground with everyone but Clayton looking over her.

"Sora are you ok?" asked Amber with a lot of worry in her voice.

"Sora!" Said donald and goofy

"I'm ok! Sorry to worry all of you," said Kairi as she got up. This was a very strange situation for her.

"You sure you're alright?" Amber asked, feeling that something was off.

"I'm fine. Just, where were we prior to me fainting?" Kairi tried to play it cool.

"Well, we were about to say that we found a Gummi Block after we arrived here and we think that it may mean the king was here," Goofy said slowly, feeling bad that Donald and Sora had a fight.

"Yeah, so we are going to stay here. For now!" Donald yelled.

"Well, I'll also stay here. For now!" Kairi decided.

So if the king is here we can stay, but not if people we care about are here.

_Sora began to cry again at this news, with Ventus doing his best to try and cheer her up._

"Well, anyway, Tarzan said that my friends and family were at some place plus a word I couldn't understand," Kairi said.

Jane said, "Oh, Tarzan can't completely speak English. He has gotten better. Maybe the slides we have been using to teach him to speak can help us. If only I can remember where they are."

"Don't worry, Jane. We'll get the slides for you," Goofy offered.

And so the group of Sora(Kairi), Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan went out to search for the slides. It took some time for them to find them, but eventually they found all of the slides at the campsite and went back to the tent. They got the slides back Jane and they went through them. When they got to a castle Kairi was sure it felt familiar. Then it got to the gorilla and Tarzan still didn't react in any notable way. After looking through all the slides, Clayton informed them that they have looked through the entire forest and still haven't seen the people that they are referring to, which Jane and Amber agreed to this with a nod. The only remaining place to look is with the gorillas, but Tarzan won't take them to them. So they had to get Tarzan's help with finding the gorilla's home. The four of them left camp and went up into the trees where Tarzan found and talked to a gorilla that seemed to be their leader. However, the amulet didn't translate the conversation, leading Kairi, Donald, and Goofy to be confused as to what Tarzan was saying. However, the conversation was interrupted when the leader, Kerchak heard a noise from the treehouse. The group followed the gorilla there only to see Clayton was ready to shoot a young gorilla. Fortunately, Donald yelled and stopped Clayton from shooting the gorilla. However, Tarzan's relationship with Kerchak was weakened as a result. Clayton tried to defend his actions, but no one believed his excuses. While they were gone, the group had found twelve more of the dalmatian puppies and returned them to the ship.

When the group returned to the camp, they told Amber and Jane what had transpired, and needless to say they were not happy with Clayton at all. They forbade him from coming close to the gorillas again, which is a sentiment that the entire group shared.

Before anyone could do anything else, they heard a noise from outside. When they got outside, they saw a swarm of monkey-like Heartless. It took some doing, but Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan were able to defeat the Heartless.

"Heartless? Here?" Ventus said, surprised that the seemingly peaceful world was now having a Heartless problem.

"Hey, Sora. It looked to be that you were battling a little bit differently than usual. Are you okay?" Goofy asked in concern for the young Keyblade wielder.

"Um, no. I'm fine Goofy. Just trying out a different battling technique," Ventus responded as the last of the Heartless was defeated, with Kairi returning to being in control immediately after.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan, are you all okay?" Jane came out of the tent, with Amber leaning against her. "What just happened?"

"Heartless. They attacked us and may be endangering the gorillas or even Clayton," Kairi said.

"Well, we better look around the jungle just to be sure," Amber said as she tried to walk towards the group, only to stumble and fall down.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked in concern for Amber.

"I'm fine. Just a sprained ankle," Amber responded.

"You should just stay here, Amber," Kairi ordered in concern. "We'll look for the gorillas and Clayton."

And so the group of four left to fight the Heartless and save the gorillas. They went everywhere throughout the jungle to fight off the Heartless, but when it seemed as if they finished off the Heartless, they heard a gunshot go off not far from the campsite. When they arrived at where the gunshot was at, they saw a cheetah, Sabor. The group worked together to fight off the cheetah. It was a tough battle, but eventually the cheetah fell. After the battle, the group returned to the campsite only to see that Jane and Amber were absent. They looked through the jungle while fighting more Heartless when they finally found the duo with a gorilla trapped behind a wall of vines. Ventus realized that they were trapped due to a dark fruit creating the vine wall. After Ventus destroyed the wall, they got the truth from Amber and Jane. As it turned out, they were trapped here by Clayton, who was commanding the Heartless. Not only that, but he had captured the rest of the gorillas except for the one with them, who apparently was named Terk. It was clear what was needed to be done.

Amber, Terk, and Jane returned to the campsite while Sora(Kairi and Ventus), Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan went to confront Clayton near the home of the gorillas. They got there just in time to stop Clayton from shooting Tarzan's adoptive mother. He quickly started to fight the group, shooting bullets all across the battlefield hoping at least one would hit the heroes. Eventually, however, when it looked like they had Clayton on the ropes, the rock wall behind Clayton broke apart and when Tarzan rushed Clayton, he was hit back by something invisible, which Clayton started riding on. The heroes started to fight Clayton once more, with the invisible Heartless giving the heroes a lot of trouble. Eventually, Clayton was ready to shoot the heroes only for Clayton to meet his end by the invisible Heartless, a giant chameleon, falling on him. After the Heartless disappeared, Kerchak threw Sora, Donald, and Goofy up onto the cliff that was hidden by the destroyed rock wall.

After exploring the new area, they eventually reached a room with a tree covered in blue butterflies, only for Tarzan to reveal that this place is his home, meaning that no one else was here in this world. Jane and Amber, with the help of the gorillas, also arrived in this room. Jane came to the realization that Tarzan's mystery word was "heart." After Tarzan revealed that Clayton fell to darkness by not accepting those around him as friends, Donald tried to apologize to Sora, only for Kairi to stay silent on Sora's behalf though not without some conflict on Kairi's part. The Keyhole turned out to be in the tree, which Kairi proceeded to lock up to her surprise.

When they got back to the ship with Amber and the puppies, Amber wanted to talk to Sora because she has been acting strange ever since fainted.

"Sora are you ok?" Amber asked in worry.

"Yes of course i'm fine just a little tired that's all. I'm just going to take a nap. It has been a long day."

"Ok," they all said.

After laying down in the bed, Kairi went into Sora's heart. She found Ven and Vani trying to cheer up Sora and try and convince her to take back control of her body.

_**Sora, I know you're still hurting from what they did. I'm not not going to say you should just forgive them and forget and move on. You should be the one to make that decision when or if you want to do so. But Amber is very worried and I just know when we run into Riku, your family or anyone else from our world they will know something is off and be worried too. You're the only you there is and me and Ven would just be cheap imitations and they would be able to tell. **_

**She's right Sora. **

Yeah Sky, take your time but we can't do this all the time.

"You're right. I'll take back control."

_**Ok good.**_

"But I'm not going to forgive them just yet. I need time."

**That's just fine with us, take all the time you need. **Vani and Kairi nodded in agreement.

Sora woke up and went to the cockpit to talk to and reassure Amber that she was okay. When she got up there she gave Donald and goofy a reluctant smile and went to talk to Amber.


	7. Hero Woes

When the trio returned to Traverse Town, they tried to ask Leon and the others about the Gummi blocks, but they didn't know about them. They suggested asking Cid, but he wasn't present in the store at the moment.

After dropping the puppies off at their home and Amber with Leon and the others, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were ready to go, though Amber wanted to come with them and help. But Donald shut that down quickly.

"Hey, what did you do that for?!" Sora yelled, outraged at the fact that they were denying letting her sister come with them.

"We don't need to have others weighing us down, Sora," Donald responded. "Besides, it would be better if you just left her here where it is safe."

"She's my sister. She's been on adventures before. She can totally help us out," Sora tried to argue.

"She may have a point, Donald," Goofy interrupted. "Maybe Amber can handle herself.

Donald looked a little bit frustrated, but then he started to look somewhat sad. "I'm sorry, but no. She could easily get hurt when we try to find your friends or the king. Keep in mind, Heartless are difficult to defeat. Without the right weapon or spell, they cannot be defeated. My original decision stands. She is not coming with us."

"But-but-but," Sora stuttered, unhappy with Donald's final decision but still wanting to argue for Amber coming with them. But after some thinking, Sora realized that Amber could end up getting into danger like Donald said. So, with great difficulty, Sora accepted Donald's deal. "F-fine. She can stay here in Traverse Town."

After this, Donald and Goofy left Sora in the room to talk to her sister while they stocked up on supplies. As Amber came into the room, Sora could see the remnants of tears in her eyes. This made Sora more upset with Donald than she was before. Before Sora can say something Amber stops her.

"It's ok, Sora. I'm ok. You don't need to worry," Amber reassured.

"But Amber, what Donald said was so mean," Sora protested.

"I know, but what he said was kinda right. I don't want to weigh you guys down so-," Amber said, only to be interrupted by Sora.

"You wouldn't have. You've done so much. You were part of the princess adventure club and you helped Sofia stop Prisma and so much more. You are a hero."

Amber smirked and with confidence said, "I know. As I was saying, I don't want to weigh you guys down so I'm going to learn how to use magic from a wizard that Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith know so the next time you're back I can prove that duck wrong and help find our family and everyone else."

Sora smiled and gave Amber a big hug. After talking for a little bit more, Aerith and Bailiwick gave them refreshments and Leon and Yuffie gave them reassurance they will hold down the fort here and keep an eye out. After saying their goodbyes for now, Sora left the room. Not wanting to see Donald and Goofy, Sora decides to look around Traverse Town for the dalmatian puppies and items from chests while also talking to Kairi, Ven, and Vani.

_**Sora? Are you okay?**_

Yeah. You seem to be a lot more tense than you are letting on to other people.

"I'm fine," Sora said, she said more to herself than to Kairi and Vanitas.

**You don't seem fine. Are you sure you don't have any issues?**

"I don't have any issues right now."

_**You do know that if you have any problems you can tell us. So go ahead. Tell us what's bothering you. Please.**_

"Well, I don't know why, but I am having conflicting feelings about Amber not coming. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy that Amber is fine and am angry at Donald for not wanting her to come. But I also am feeling somewhat relieved at knowing Amber isn't coming and I don't know why."

**Maybe you're just relieved that she is out of danger.**

Or maybe...maybe you don't want her to interfere.

"What? What do you mean?" Sora was confused.

Well, since you were young you wanted to be able to have a life that didn't compare you to your siblings. Maybe you didn't want Amber to come because you want to be the hero this time.

"I don't know if that is true or not. Maybe? I don't want to be selfish. After all, our family and friends are in danger and we may need all the help we can get to do so," Sora explained. "So, with that said, can we please talk about something else?"

Wanting to distract herself, Sora went around and found more of the puppies and items like potions and elixirs. She then dropped the puppies off at their house. The parents were so appreciative that they gave Sora some presents. Sora was surprised but took the presents graciously and thanked was so happy that she was able to reunite more of the family. Sora then went to look for Donald and Goofy and found them outside of Cid's shop ready for the journey ahead.

* * *

The black shadows gathered around a stone pedestal. In the center of it was a ring of light, showing a vision of Sora,Donald, and Goofy.

"That little squirt took down another Heartless! Who'd a thunk!"

"What's that now, three?"

"And the brat's friends are the king's lackys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them…"

"You're no prize yourself."

"Shut up!"

The man in a black cape, with a staff shaped like a snake, and the man in a great red hat with a feather in it and a piece of shape curved metal in place of his left hand- Jafar and Hook- had begun to argue. A third chilly voice cut them off. "Enough."

This was Maleficent in a cloak as black as the shadows.

"That is the power of the Keyblade. The girl's strength is not her own," She walked toward the ring of light on the pedestal and raised her staff to it.

"Why not turn her into a Heartless? That'll settle this quick enough!" Said Hook with a cruel grin.

With a sweep of her cloak, Maleficent smiled. "The Keyblade has chosen her. Will it be she who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow her? Either way, she could be quite useful."

The shadowy figures all peered closely at the image of Sora.

"At any rate- what could have drawn the Heartless into a jungle like that?" Hook wondered.

Maleficent answered without looking away from the ring of light, "The hunter lured them. His own lust for power became the bait."

"A weak hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless, said Jafar, raising his snake- headed staff and moving toward Maleficent. "But the girl is a problem. She has been finding the Keyholes."

"It will take him ages to find the rest," Maleficent replied, her gaze still locked on Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the ring of light. "Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of other plan."

"The princesses…," Hook said, folding his arms.

"Yes. They are falling into our hands one by one. And speaking of which…" Maleficent gestured with her staff to the prisoner, who had gone missing in Wonderland- Alice.

* * *

Sora, Donald, and Goofy approached a temple on top of clouds with the Gummi Ship, with two soldiers with clashing swords on top of the temple.

Sora was barely listening while Donald and goofy talked.

"Hey Donald, do you think something is wrong with Sora? She's been a lot more quiet lately," Goofy asked in concern.

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask her if she is alright," Donald suggested.

"Okay then. I'll ask her. Hey Sora! Are you okay?!" Goofy called out for the girl to hear. Unfortunately, while Sora did hear him, she refused to respond seeing as how she was still on bad terms with him and Donald. The lack of a response concerned the two of them greatly.

They soon landed when they got out they found themselves in a courtyard outside a coliseum. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were quick to notice the entrance to the coliseum.

**Hey, Sora. I've been here before. **

"Really? You have?" Sora was surprised.

**Yeah. I wonder if Hercules and Phil are here. I wonder if Zack is here.**

"So, who are these people? They sound like very good friends of yours."

**They are, even though haven't known them for long. Hercules and Zack were both training to be heroes and Phil was Herc's trainer. Phil is also a satyr, or a goat man if you don't know what that is.**

Well, maybe Phil can help you become a better hero.

_**Like we need someone to tell us Sora is a hero.**_

"Yeah, I guess," Sora answered.

"Sora! We're going to enter the coliseum! Are you ready to come with us?!" Goofy called out for Sora. Realizing that he didn't have much time, he said goodbye to the others before leaving to follow the duo. Before going in, Sora found three of the dalmatian puppies.

* * *

Upon getting inside, they noticed a satyr named Phil who was quick to tell them, " Good timing. Can you go ahead and move this for me? We need to spruce this place up for the games." Donald, Goofy, and Sora looked at each other, confused by the order, but Sora decided to comply and tried to move the pedestal only for it to prove to be far too heavy for the Keyblade wielder.

Sora pointed out how, "It's way too heavy."

"What? Too heavy? Since when were you one to-," Phil said, only to stop upon seeing that it wasn't Hercules he was talking to. "Oh, I got the wrong guy. Get lost you three. I'm busy preparing the coliseum for the games."

"So, what are these games?" Sora asked out of curiosity.

"Picture this, heroes from all over to fight in the games for the top spot. Aw, what am I explaining this to you three for? Get lost," Phil bluntly said.

"Hey, I've faced several monsters," Sora countered.

"Yeah, you see, Sora here is a hero chosen by the Keyblade," Goofy said on Sora's behalf.

"And we're heroes too," Donald also claimed.

"Hero?! That runt?!" Phil proceeded to laugh out loud at this claim. "If you can't even move this then you can forget calling yourself a hero," Phil said as he tried and failed to move the pedestal. "Okay, so maybe it takes more than brawns to be a hero," Phil admitted. "I guess if you want to be heroes that badly, I can help to train you."

"Yes!" Sora cried out.

"We'll be heroes in no time!" Donald echoed the sentiment.

"Hold on you guys, it ain't easy to become heroes," Phil warned. "It takes a lot to become true heroes, and we have to start with basics."

"Basics like?" Goofy asked.

* * *

"Basics like breaking all of these pots within one minute," Phil answered as the trio were led to the arena, which was currently empty save for a bunch of pots on an obstacle course. "Now get to work." Sora completed the task with plenty of time to spare, which seemed to impress Phil. "Wow, you ain't bad kid."

"Well, looks like I'll be heading to the games," Sora said with utmost confidence.

"I'm afraid not, you guys," Phil bluntly stated.

"Aw, why not?" Sora wanted to know.

"Two words. You guys ain't heroes," Phil answered as Goofy counted the amount of words Phil said on his fingers.

"Hey! We can be heroes easy!" Donald protested.

"Look, if you really want to be heroes that badly, why don't you start off by learning this spell." And so Phil taught both Sora and Donald to use Thunder magic. "Now, scram. I have to train a real hero now. We can continue work later." Before the trio could ask who he was to train, they saw a young adult walk into the arena. One that Sora was quick to recognize.

"James?! You're here?! And a hero?!" Sora called out in shock and relief upon seeing her older brother.

"Sora! I was so worried! Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?" James questioned his sister.

"I'm fine. I was looking for you, hoping you were okay. Looks like you are. So, how did you get roped into being a hero?" Sora wondered.

"Oh, I just told Phil what I accomplished in the past and he was quick to test me and call me a hero! Isn't that great?!" James said in excitement.

"Yeah. Great." Sora said a bit uneasily.

"Hey Sora! Who is this?" Donald was quick to ask, wanting to know how he knew this young man.

"This is James, and he is my brother," Sora simply answered, not wanting to let them know he was a prince.

"Yeah, and I'm-," James said only to be interrupted by Sora.

"A true hero. One picked out by Phil to likely be the best in the upcoming games," Sora interrupted, hoping that James wouldn't blab and reveal that they were royalty.

"Um, okay? Well, hopefully you will be able to watch me compete in the games. They'll be great. Afterwards, we can look for everyone else, okay?" James said as Sora, Donald, and Goofy left the arena.

As they got outside to wait for the games to begin, they were approached by a blue being wearing black robes and had blue flames for hair. "Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"

"Huh? Are you talking to us?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you. Listen, I just so happened to come by a little piece of paper that I believe belongs with you guys, just sit here for a moment," the strange man said as he magically produced a pass into the games.

"A pass?!" Sora was ecstatic.

"Yeah, just see it as a vote of confidence. No charge. The happiness of you and your friends is thanks enough," the strange man said before he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, looks like we can compete in the games after all," Donald was as ecstatic as Sora was.

"Let's go tell Phil!" Sora yelled as the trio went inside and showed the pass to Phil. "Hey, Phil! Look what we have!"

"Wait, a pass?! Where did the three of you get one?!" Phil was beyond shocked.

"A fan gave it to us. Well, since we have it, we can compete in the games, right?" Donald asked.

"Uh, fine. You can compete. Just be careful not to get yourselves or anyone else hurt," Phil warned.

"You got it, Phil," Goofy happily laughed.

* * *

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were fighting their way through the games. To their surprise and shock, all their opponents were Heartless which just confused Sora. At the second to last round, they faced off against a blonde man named Cloud. While they got a few good hits in, they were ultimately no match for the warrior. The final round matchup was to be Cloud against James. The battle was a mighty clash between the two seasoned warriors. However, before a victor could be decided, a giant three-headed dog named Cerberus suddenly entered the arena. Hercules, a great hero who had left to visit his father, arrived to help Cloud and James fight off the giant dog.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy fled from the arena, but Sora was worried about her brother as well as Cloud and Hercules. Not wanting them to get hurt, Sora, Donald, and Goofy returned to the arena to fight off Cerberus. During this time, Sora realized she had the power of animalistic abilities, which she didn't know how she got. She started to figure out about the animalistic abilities when she said she wished she had the speed of a cheetah, much to her confusion. At first, the trio fought the giant dog like they were fighting a Heartless. However, as time passed, Sora realized that the dog wasn't evil and defeated the dog not through force but with love and patience.

* * *

"And thus, I hereby dub thee junior heroes, granting you future access to participate in thine games. Further-," Phil was giving the trio junior hero status for their actions.

"Hey, what do you mean junior heroes?" Donald asked, unhappy with the lesser status than hero.

"You rookies still don't have what it takes to be true heroes," Phil explained.

"So, what do we have to do to become heroes?" Sora asked.

"Well, that is something that you will have to figure out, just like I did," Hercules said.

With no games going on for some time, Sora, James, Donald, and Goofy were ready to leave but before leaving, they all worked together to move the pedestal. Underneath it, they found the Keyhole and proceeded to lock it. When she locked it, Sora noticed her amulet glow, much to her confusion. Sora couldn't help but wonder if her amulet also glowed when she locked the other Keyholes.

* * *

With nothing else to do right now, Sora and company left this world with James, though not before talking to Cloud outside. Cloud was looking for something and Hades lied and said he could help in exchange for eliminating Hercules. After leaving, Hades ranted to himself about Hercules. Maleficent arrived only for Hades to shoo her out and let him deal with Hercules, Sora, Donald, and Goofy himself.


	8. A Familiar Face

Sora watched Olympia vanish into the distance behind them. It felt like such a long time since she'd left Destiny Island. She'd met so many people and said farewell to some of them was happy that she was able to find Amber, James, and Bailiwick and that Kairi was safe but she was upset that she has not able to find her dad, mom, Sofia, Riku, or anyone else from her home. _They have to be out there somewhere, _Sora thought, staring out at the lanes between. The sparkling stars were so beautiful. Everyone would love this. She wanted to see this with them. No, she wanted to be with them. As she was looking out the window, the three puppys that they found in Olympus were playing on the floor and her brother James was bugging Donald trying to convince him to let him drive the gummi ship and Goofy looking at the gummi block they got from Deep Jungle.

"Say...this Gummi block looks kinda strange…," Goofy said as he cocked his head.

Sora moved away from the cockpit window and looked at the thing in Goofy's hand. Even if she was still upset with them her curiosity got the better of her.

"What's strange about it?" Asked Sora.

"I dunno. It just doesn't look like a normal gummi block. I know we tried to ask Cid about it, but hopefully he can give us the answers we are looking for," Goofy said as he held it up to the starlight.

"Yeah, you're right. Hopefully Cid can give us answers once we get back to Traverse Town," Sora responded.

"I wanna be the pilot!" James said as he tried to edge Donald out of the pilot's chair.

"Hey stop it!"

The battle for the pilot's chair began and it was getting on Sora and the people in her heart's nerves.

Great. Just what we needed. More disagreements.

**Hey, don't be mean Vanitas. Though, I guess this petty fighting is a bit obnoxious.**

_**Same here. I just wish that an agreement could be reached so that the fighting could stop. Right, Sora?**_

"I kinda wish that the fighting could stop. However, if I had to pick a side, I would pick James's side," Sora answered.

"Oh c'mon! I'm one of the best knights of Enchancia!" James yelled

"I don't care who you are! No!" Donald countered.

Sora just shook her head as Goofy and Jiminy smiled and shrugged as they watched the two argue.

* * *

This was their fourth visit to Traverse Town, the night time city was calm and friendly.

"Looks like there aren't any Heartless in the first District…," Donald said as he looked around. "There's Yuffie!"

She was standing by the post office in the first District Square. They ran over to her.

"Hey Sora, Donald, Goofy welcome back," She welcomed them and then she noticed the stranger with them. "Huh? Who's...? "

Sora was about to answer but before she could, James kneeled and said in a very noble way, "I am Prince James, knight of Enchancia at your service, lady Yuffie." When he looked at Sora to see her reaction to his little joke since he is usually not this formel with people. To his surprise Sora's face was as red as a tomato and her expression was a combination of shock and fear. Before James or anyone could say anything, Sora just ran as fast as she could towards the Third District.

* * *

Sora ran into the Third District, Kairi, Ventus, and Vanitas tried to calm her down but it did not work.

**Whoa Sora! You need to calm down! It isn't that bad.**

"Not that bad?! Donald, Goofy, Yuffie, and the others just found out I'm a princess! That's it. It's over. Now that they know I'm a princess they'll treat me like I'm made of glass," Sora wailed out, miserable at this situation.

_**Hey, it's not that bad. Maybe Donald and Goofy will understand.**_

Or we can just steal the Gummi Ship if it comes down to it.(Kairi and Ventus glared at Vanitas.)What?

"Thanks for the suggestion, Vanitas, but I'm not gonna steal the Gummi Ship. I-I-I don't know what I'm gonna do."

Before they could talk more she was ambushed by a Soldier heartless jumping on her back. She got her Keyblade out ready to fight and tried to shake the Heartless off. The Heartless was taken out by someone behind her. When Sora looked to see who helped her she had to do a double take because she did not know if she was hallucinating or if she was dreaming. Her eyes were wide and her heart was thumping with happiness. She could feel Kairi's and her brothers Ventus and Vanitas's happiness too.

_**Riku!**_ Everyone yelled at once.

"Hey wake up, Sora!" Riku called his friend.

"No way!"

"It took forever to find you, Sora."

"Riku." Sora said in a whisper with tears in her eyes. Sora ran up and talked her friend into a hug and clinged to him afraid that if she let go he would disappear. "Riku! You're ok! You're ok, Riku." In return the silver haired boy hugged her back in reassurance.

"It's good to see you Sora," Riku was similarly happy.

After a second to calm down she noticed the weapon in her friend's hand. "Is that a Keyblade?" Riku blinked then looked at the blade in his hand. "You can use a Keyblade, Riku! That's awesome! Sora hugged Riku again in happiness for him.

Sora took a deep breath. "Riku I want you to be ready, and I'm sorry."

Riku frowned, not understanding. "Sorry for wha-," Sora's fist contacted with his face before Riku could finish talking, and fell to the ground. At that moment Riku remembered. Oh yeah he fucked up.

"What Silver?" Growled a voice at Riku. The voice coming out of her mouth was hers but more ruff. As the silver haired boy pushed himself up looking up at his best friend's face, only to see instead of the shimmering jewels of sky blue with specks of green. He saw as expected angry golden eyes glaring at him. "What the stars were you thinking?" The voice yelled. "You've put yourself, your friends, family and everyone from your world in danger, going through the darkness like that with no way to protect yourself, or anyone else. Not caring about anyone else in your world! Where did you get that stupid idea in the first place?"

"A guy in a brown cloak said we could leave Enchancia using the darkness," Riku whispered timidly with a blush and looked away, not meeting Vanitas's eyes.

"You listened to the word of a stranger dressed in a potato sack!?" He yelled again, Riku flinched, still not looking at Vanitas. "I would have expected this stupidity from Sky or Wind, even then those two were taught to ask questions and not listen to strangers that are clearly not to be trusted, but you? I'm very disappointed in you." Vanitas sigh then hugged Riku tightly. Riku's eyes widened in surprise. Vanitas looked him in the eyes and said, "Don't do that again, I don't want to see you do anything stupid ever again, clear?" Said Vanitas, and Riku nodded. "We were all worried sick about you, Silver." Riku closed his eyes and hugged Vanitas back.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I understand that now."

Vanitas sighed, "You know, I'm not the only one who has a few words for you."

"Huh? I know," Riku nodded. Vanitas let go and Sora's stance changed again. She crossed her arms and glared angrily at Riku. Riku didn't didn't want to look her in the eyes either so he looked down at his feet.

"**I wont hit you, and I don't think I need to repeat what Vanitas said do I?" **Again It was Sora's voice but the tone was different but close to how Sora talks.

"No," answered Riku.

"**I hope you know we're all disappointed in you, Riku. You had no way in knowing if your friends, family or anyone else would be safe. You put yourself, Sora, Kairi, and everyone else from your world in danger. And look at that you got separated from everyone."**

"I'm sorry," Riku said with a nod. Ven sighed. "**We're glad you're ok, Riku." **The older boy gave Riku a hug of his own, and Riku hugged back.

In a heartbeat, though Sora's demeanor changed again and Riku was hugged again. Riku! The tone this time was sassy but sweet and it was very familiar. "_**Stupid Riku,"**_ the silver-haired boy was hit lightly upside his head.

Sora's face was made into a pout and her hands were on her hips. Wait a second he knew that expression on Sora's face, he knew that stance and the eyes that were a familiar sea blue. With wide eyes and a jaw that was practically on the floor. Riku squeaked. "Kairi!" Riku said as he jumped back.

"_**That's right it's me. What? Not happy to see me?" **_She giggled and teased at him. Now give me a hug will you? Even if Riku's eyes were widened from shock he still compiled with no words, It's not good to refuse an order from Kairi or Sora … ever.

"_**Now that's better,"**_ she said with a smile. Riku let out the breath he was holding and smiled at his best friend who was inside his other best friend… oh stars.

Control was finally given back to Sora. Sora's eyes were filled with sadness, regret, and other emotions, and Riku was confused for a second before his hand lightly caressing the bruise that Vanitas had given him. "I tried to warn you, both Ven and Vani were really mad and worried sick for all of us."

"It's ok I deserved that," said Riku with a shrug.

Sora then began to dig through her bag. It took a minute but she found what she was looking for. A health potion, she then handed it to Riku. "Here this should help with that bruise."

Riku accepted the potion with a smile, "Thanks."


	9. Bells, Blocks, and Magic

**Enjoy and Review! I love hearing comments and feedback. Thank you!**

Sora and Riku were sitting next to a fountain of two dogs kissing with their noses talking about what has happened to them since their world fell to darkness.

"So after we got back from Olympus Coliseum, we met up with Yuffie. James then did this big show and revealed we were royalty and I got upset and ran off. And that's when I ran into you." said Sora, telling her story.

"Wow. That sounds kinda rough," Riku said.

"Hey kid, there you are!" yelled Leon as he, Yuffie, and Aerith approached her, wanting to talk to her.

"Yeah, you ran away very suddenly there, Sora. Is everything alright?" Yuffie asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Everything's fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?" Sora said with the largest fake smile on her face, "Hey look, I found my friend Riku while in Traverse Town.

"I don't think you are being honest, Sora. If something is bothering you, you can just tell us. We won't judge you," Aerith comforted the young girl.

Sora's smile dissipated almost immediately. She didn't feel comfortable with admitting the truth to the older friends, but in the end she decided to just get it over with. "The truth is I'm the youngest princess in my family from my world. I'm sorry for not telling you guys the truth. I was afraid that you would treat me differently if you knew the truth, perhaps even prevent me from going to other worlds at all to save the people I care about."

Sora waited for their response, a little afraid of what they might say.

"I don't see what the problem is, Sora," Yuffie finally said.

"Yeah. It doesn't matter to us what your status is. It's who you are as a person that is important," Leon accepted the teenage girl.

"And you have done more than enough to prove that you are a friend worth having as well as a great person as well," Aerith said.

Sora was overcome with emotion over being accepted by her friends like this and could barely hold back tears of joy. "Thanks you guys. I really needed to hear that," Sora blubbered as she hugged the trio of friends. "So you're okay with me going to other worlds and defeating Heartless?" Sora wanted to make sure.

"Of course we are fine with it. Just be careful though. I'm not saying that because you're a princess. I'm saying that because you are a friend," Leon made sure to say to Sora.

"Ok I will. By the way where are Donald and Goofy? They deserve an explanation and an apology," Sora asked, feeling bad.

"They're out looking for you along with James and Amber," Yuffie answered.

"Okay. Thanks you guys. I'll go out and look for them," Sora thanked the trio. "Hey Riku, you wanna help me find my friends? I feel like you would grow to like them upon getting to know them." Sora turned to where Riku was only to see that he wasn't there anymore. "Hey, where did Riku go?"

"**Did he just ditch us?"**

"_**Yep."**_

"_I'm sure he has a good reason, at least I hope he does." _

"He better have a good reason or else."

"I don't know. I think he may have left while we were talking, Sora," Aerith truthfully said.

"Aw man. Just when we get reunited he has to leave again. Still, I'm glad to see that he is okay," Sora was relieved. "Well, if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go look for everyone else."

Sora went searching throughout Traverse Town for Donald, Goofy, James, and Amber, fighting Heartless as she did so. Eventually, she found them in front of Cid's shop. "Oh, there you guys are," Sora was happy to see the group again.

"Oh, hey Sora. You doing alright? The last time we saw you you ran off," Goofy aired out his concerns about the young princess.

"Yeah. We were worried sick about you. Why didn't you tell us you were a princess?" Donald demanded from the young girl.

"And why didn't you want us telling others we were royalty?" James was confused.

"I was just worried that Donald and Goofy would treat me differently and not let me come along and look for my friends and family if they knew the truth," Sora admitted.

"Well, that's just plain silly, Sora. The king has always gone out to deal with danger whenever the worlds were in trouble. We won't judge you for wanting to help save your loved ones," Goofy comforted.

"Yeah. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot before, but trust us when we say that we understand your worries and are not going to judge you for being a princess," Donald said.

Sora didn't know what to say so in her happiness she hugged the two of them, tears running down her face, "Thanks, you guys are the best." After releasing the two from the hug and drying her eyes she looked at her siblings and said " I found Riku."

"Really, that's fantastic." Said Amber happiness oozing from her voice.

"Brilliant! Where is he? Is he hiding?" James said excitedly while looking around.

"No, he's not hiding. I don't know where he is right now, he kinda ditched me." Sora said quieter and quieter as the annoyed looks on her siblings' faces got more prominent.

"He what!" they both yelled in anger.

"Someones in trouble." Said Vani teasingly.

"**Can you stop being so juvenile?"**

"Haha. Never!"

_**"Huh. Do you have to deal with this all the time?"**_

"_Yeah, every day."_

She was then shocked back by her siblings.

"He is your knight, that is something he should never do." Said Amber angrily with James nodding in agreement.

"Hey, don't worry I can take care of myself. Sora said as she brought out her Keyblade. We still have some things to do before we leave and it isn't like Riku has a Gummi Ship of his own. Speaking of which, do you know where Cid is? We need to talk with him about a few Gummi Blocks we found," Sora asked her siblings while trying to defuse the situation.

"Huh. I think he is in his shop, right James?" said Amber, still annoyed but came down knowing that she will have some words for him when they found him.

"Yeah that was the last place we saw him." said James trying to hold in his own annoyance.

"Great thanks," Sora said as she, Donald, and Goofy ran towards the store. "You two coming?" asked Sora as she looked back.

"No. You all go on ahead, we are just going to go see if we can find anyone from home." Said Amber.

"Yeah we'll be fine you go on a head we'll meet back with you at Leon's headquarters." said James.

"Ok." yelled Sora as the three of them kept running.

After their sister was out of ear shot they discussed the full truth of their plans.

"So we're going to find Riku and give him a piece of our minds?" Asked James.

"Of course. No one ditches our sister and gets away with it." Replied Amber.

The trio ran into the accessory shop. Cid was there as usual, resting his elbows on the counter. "Hey there," he greeted them.

"Cid!" They dashed up to the counter and handed him the Gummi block.

"Well, if it ain't a Gummi block."

"Yup." Donald nodded.

The Gummi block's sparkling reflected in Cid's eyes as he stared at it.

"So, what's this one for?" Goofy asked.

"You're kiddin' me, right?!" Cid exploded dramatically. "You're flyin' a Gummi Ship and you don't even know the Different kinds of Gummi blocks?! You pinheads! The lanes between ain't no playground!"

"There's a lot we don't know. So what!" Feeling like a kid getting scolded, Sora pouted. "We have to use the Gummi ship to go to other worlds. We don't have a choice."

"Oh- Well, I guess ya do," Cid said quietly, looking at the Keyblade in Sora's hand. "All right, I'm here to lend a hand."

"Thanks."

Cid took a deep breath and explained, "So this Gummi is pretty dang handy- if we install it in your ship, it'll open up new routes. You know what that means?"

"New routes…" Goofy cocked his head.

Donald picked up the hit. "That means we'll be able to go to new worlds!"

"Bingo. So you want to install it?"

"Yeah!"

If they saw more worlds, they might find Kairi's body, the rest of her family, anyone else from their world … and king Mickey.

"Naturally, I'll take care of that, no worries," said Cid. "But I'm gonna need something from you in the meantime."

"What? We gotta pay?!" Donald complained, jumping up and down.

"Now hold on! I just want you to deliver something. And while you're doin' that I'll install this Gummi. It'll take a while. Plenty of time for you to make a little delivery, okay?"

"I guess so…," said Sora, Still not convinced.

"And anyway… Eh, well…" Cid scratched his head. It looked like he had something important to say but couldn't get it out. "Well, you'll see when you get there!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at one another. "Okay. So what do we need to deliver?"

"Just this…" He held out a beat- up book. "It's pretty old, and it looked like it was gonna fall apart, so I fixed it."

There was a little Keyhole on the book, but it didn't seem to be locked or anything. They opened it to an illustration of a forest, torn here and there. It looked like a children's picture book.

"Are there some animals in here, too…?" said Goofy, peeking at the book over Sora's shoulder. Just as he said, there were some drawings of creatures that looked like stuffed toys.

"Careful there. This is a precious book. And it seems like it's got a special power. So I want you to take it to the old house in the Third District. Look for the fire sign. Say, can you pip-squeaks use fire magic?" Cid jokingly asked the group.

"Whaddaya think?! You're speaking to a royal magician!" Donald snapped, waving his wand.

"That'll do, then. Well, I'm leavin' it to you."

"Got it!" Sora put the book in her backpack.

And just then, the air trembled with the ringing of a giant bell from somewhere.

"Wow, what's that?!" Sora looked around.

Cid didn't seem startled at all. "Sounds like the Gizmo Shop bell is ringing…"

"The Gizmo Shop?"

"It's a weird shop in the Second District. They say if you ring it three times, something'll happen, but nobody's ever heard it ring three times in a row. Maybe you can check it out after you deliver that book." Cid grinned at them over his folded arms.

"Okay. Donald, Goofy, let's go!" They left the shop and headed to the third district.

"Man, it's been a while," Cid said to himself. "Good to have some real work."

He stretched his arms and disappeared into the back of the shop.

The trio went through the Second District again.

"No matter how many we take out, the Heartless just keeping on coming!" Goofy grumbled as he defeated more of them. "D'ya think we could hide the Keyblade somehow?"

"_I don't know if we should or not."_

"_**Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you are a great Keyblade wielder."**_

"Yeah, you are an adequate Keyblade user."

"**Especially since you've had no one to teach you."**

"_Thanks you guys." Sora said while still fighting the heartless._

"If we did, we wouldn't be able to lock the keyholes, and besides, the king told us to stay with the key," Donald shouted back. "We'd be disobeying orders!"

"I agree with the duck, though I don't like that he sounds like they're only here because they have to. Besides, you'd lack a means of defending yourself without a Keyblade."

It was true that there was just no end to the heartless, but … Just then the bell rang again, shaking the ground.

"Whoa!" Sora stumbled and fell.

Goof helped her up. "You okay, Sora?"

"Sheesh… I wonder if we can do anything about that bell ringing…"

"It's that bell up there, right?" Goofy pointed to a tower. "Maybe we can stop it …"

"Quack! No slacking off!" Donald scolded them. They'd paused in fighting the Heartless.

"Okay, okay…" Sora picked up the Keyblade. They reached the Third District. "Finally, we made it…"

Fighting off the Heartless, they ran through the Third District square to the hidden house. After all that, they weren't in the beast shape.

In front of the big door, they caught their breath and helped heal one another. The door was marked with a flame insignia.

Goofy pushed, then pushed with all his might. It didn't budge. "It won't open…"

"Didn't Cid say we have to use magic?" said Sora, looking at Donald's wand.

"Well, that'd be … fire!" Donald shot a flame at the insignia on the door. And then- it slowly opened.

"Let's go!"

They stepped inside and found themselves in a big cavern.

"Gee, I didn't there was a place like this in Traverse Town…" Sora gazed around. There was a wide pond in the cavern, and in the middle of that, a little island with a single house perched on it. "Is that it?"

Donald moved first, jumping onto the stepping-stones. "C'mon, hurry up! Quack!"

Looking back at the other two as he leaped, Donald fell into the water with a spectacular splash.

"Gawrsh, are you okay?" Goofy jumped onto the stepping-stone and helped Donald out.

"Wak!" Donald yelled as he jumped onto the next stone. "Come on, Sora. You too!"

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" Sora said as she also started to cross, with everyone making it across to the little house that looked like a pot with a red hat on top.

"It won't open! Why won't it open?!" Donald proceeded to kick at the door, only for nothing new to happen. Apparently his patience had faded after falling into the water.

"Maybe there's another way in…?" Goofy wondered as he walked around the house.

"I've had about enough of this place! Falling into ponds, houses that we cannot enter! This is the pits!" Donald yelled.

"Aw, don't be so mad about it, Donald. I'm sure that there must be some way in." Sora tried to calm him down, looking up at the house. The red roof was kind of dilapidated-it didn't really look like anyone could live there.

"Sora! Donald!" Goofy called. "I found a way in!"

The duo went to join Goofy on the other side of the home, and there was a big hole in the wall.

"Are we really supposed to go in this way…?"

"Why not?"

So they ducked into the house through the hole. It definitely looked abandoned. Sora glanced from side to side, and…

"There's something about this musty old place."

_**"Doesn't it remind you of the secret spot?"**_

"_Oh yeah it does."_

Just then another voice addressed them.

"Whew… Well, well. You've arrived sooner than I expected."

Next to the wall stood an old man with a long beard, a tall hat and glasses.

"_**Merlin!" They all yelled surprised to see him.**_

"Greetings, young Sora. It's nice to see you again," Merlin greeted the Keyblade wielder. "And this must be Donald and Goofy," Merlin said as he looked over to the duck and dog respectively.

"Wait, you know who we are?" Donald was confused.

"Why, yes. I've met young Sora when she was younger and I've heard about you and Goofy from your king," The old magician explained.

"Wait, you know the king?!" The trio were all shocked to hear this news.

"Yes. the king didn't have much time to explain everything, but he did leave me with the task of working on your magical abilities," Merlin started to get down to business.

And so the three trained. Sora and Donald worked to perfect the spells that they had obtained and be able to use them fairly well. As for Goofy, since he had no magic he instead focused his time on physical training. After they were done, they gave Merlin the book that they got from Cid. Apparently, the book didn't belong to Merlin and he had found it within his bag one day about ten years ago. Sora was told that she could enter the book whenever she wanted. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the trio left Merlin's house to look for the bell in the Second District.

The moment they stepped through the door to the second district the bell rang again with a resounding clang.

The tremble went through the ground. "Gwa-waak!" Donald yelled.

"Isn't there a way to stop it from ringing?" Goofy wondered.

"Never mind that," Donald scolded. "We gotta get back to Cid's shop and go see some worlds!"

"But there're so many Heartless, I think the Keyhole must be somewhere around here," Sora said, looking up at the bell tower.

"Are you saying the bell's got something to do with the Keyhole?"

"Well, I dunno, but-" In the middle of Sora's sentence, the Keyblade began to shine brightly. "Whoa!"

"It's shining!"

The three looked at one another and then headed for the Gizmo shop.

"Wooow…"

They wandered to the Gizmo shop with all the huge gears turning and turning.

"Hey, how about that way?" said Goofy, and they ducked between some gears. "Aw, it's a dead end…"

They really had no idea where to go.

"What are we gonna do when we find the bell?" Donald asked Sora as they dodged more gears.

"Well, Cid said if we ring it three times something will happen, right?"

"Huh? Won't it just make that humongous noise again?" Said Donald.

After descending it for a few minutes they go look for where to find the bell and found a door to where the bell is and they rung it three times.

But all that happened was the sonorous sound of its ringing.

"Aw… Nothing happening…" Sora sighed.

But then Goofy called out, "A Keyhole!"

"Huh?"

"There's a Keyhole!"

Sora ran over to Goofy and looked where he was looking. A keyhole had appeared at the fountain in the square.

"All right!"

They leaped down from the roof and ran to it. "Now there won't be any more Heartless in Traverse Town!" said Goofy.

But an enormous roar shook the ground.

"What's that?!"

A giant Heartless fell from the sky - one they thought they'd already defeated. It was the Guard Armor.

"I guess they're not gonna let us close the Keyhole without a fight…," Goofy complained and held up his shield.

"But we beat this one before!" Sora readied the Keyblade.

Donald raised his wand - but the Guard Armor's huge foot was already coming straight for him.

"Wak-gwaaak!" Donald tried to dodge but tripped on the cobblestones.

"Donald!" Sora ran over to cover him. "Hey- Look out!"

Goofy had covered his eyes, and then, with a clang, the Guard Armor's foot went flying back.

"There you are. What's going on?"

It was Riku's voice, oh how did she and the others have some words for him when this was all done. Riku then jumped into the battle helping Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat the guard armor. During the battle while Sora was fighting she wished that her attacks would hit harder and her amulet glowed giving her herculean strength. It was a tough battle but they were able to win.

"We did it!" Without thinking, Sora hugged Riku then she gave him a punch in the arm.

"Ow what was that for?"

"That was for ditching us." Said four voices at once.

Trying to stop a fight from happening Goofy asked "Is this Riku?"

"Huh? Yes this is Riku."

Before they continued the conversation Sora locked the traverse town keyhole and her amulet glowed again. They all decided to go to Cid's.

"Hey, welcome- you're back and you brought a new friend."

"Yeah, This is Riku."

"Hi, It's nice to meet all of you." Riku said a little nervously.

Cid wasn't alone in the Accessory shop. Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie were all there, too.

"So, you delivered the book? I'm all done installing the navigation Gummi."

"Thanks! Actually, though-" Sora began.

"We closed the Keyhole!" shouted Donald.

_**"Rude."**_

"Working with royalty, shouldn't he know some manners? You want me to teach him some?"

"_**No" the other three yelled at him.**_

"Really?" said Yuffie.

"Yup, really!" Goofy replied. "We rang the bell, and the Keyhole appeared by the fountain."

"That's good," said Aerith.

"Yeah, by the way - have you guys ever heard of Maleficent?" Cid asked them, his voice hushed.

"Maleficent!" Sora yelled.

"**What's she doing here?"**

_**"That witch is still alive, I thought prince Philip defeated her."**_

"Just one more bad guy we need to stop."

"Wait, you know her?" Leon asked the teen.

"Yeah. The story of what she had done is well known where we are from. However, the fact that she is still around in some capacity is really troubling," Sora explained.

"Well, you see, she is the one in charge of all of the Heartless and the destruction of many different worlds," Cid revealed. "Stopping her will be a real challenge, though."

After the conversion and learning about Ansem and his reports almost everyone left but Sora and Riku. After making sure they were alone Riku told Sora something that shocked her and the others to the core.


	10. The Double Agent

**Enjoy and Review! I love hearing constructive criticism. Thank you!**

"_**What?!" said the four of them at once.**_

"Can you repeat that?" asked Sora, sounding distressed.

"Huh? Oh, I was found by Maleficent and have been watched over by her," Riku calmly answered, much to Sora and companies' shared horror.

"Are you serious?! You're helping Maleficent?! The same witch that is, as we speak, destroying the worlds with an army of Heartless!" Vanitas yelled through Sora's body.

"I didn't say I was helping her. Though to be fair she has wanted me to do stuff for her," Riku clarified.

"That doesn't make things any better!"

"**Yeah. Helping out Maleficent is not going to help anyone but the very villains that we are trying to stop!"**

"Look, I'm not working for Maleficent. You see, she has my dad and Cedric captured and making her believe that I'm on her side is the best chance I have to save them. Besides, maybe if I act as a double agent we can better search for a way to stop her and her other villains," Riku explained.

"_**I don't know, Riku. Your plan sounds very risky. What if you fall to darkness while trying to be a part of Maleficent's crew? What if she has you do horrible things? What if she finds out what you are doing and hurts you?" Kairi asked through Sora.**_

"**Yeah. She once caused Terra to steal someone else's heart. There's no telling what she can do or have you do for her."**

"I know that it isn't the best idea. However, it may be the only way we can save my father and Cedric. Please. We can't just leave them to rot," Riku pleaded.

After thinking long and hard and taking to the others they all reluctantly agree.

"Okay, Riku. You can go and be a double agent. Just be careful, okay? The last thing we all want is for you to get hurt or worse," Sora said.

"Relax, Sora. Everything will go fine. All I need to do is look for a way to save my father and Cedric and then I'll be done with Maleficent," Riku reassured.

"_**I'm with Sora. Don't get too cocky. Maleficent is well known to be one of the most dangerous villains of all time," Kairi warned.**_

"Yeah. I know you can get overconfident, but this situation is not one to be overconfident about. You could be destroyed if Maleficent finds out the truth."

"I'll try my best to be careful, okay? I won't let that witch break me anytime soon," Riku said before he left.

"Well, there he goes. I hope that his plan works out and that Maleficent doesn't learn the truth," Sora said cautiously.

"**That may not be the only thing to worry about, guys. I felt something off about Riku, as well as familiar."**

"Yeah, you're right, Ventus. I felt a strong darkness emanating from your friend while we were talking to him. It felt a lot like _him._"


End file.
